1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper folding apparatus and related method for automatically folding paper, and particularly to a paper folding apparatus having one conveyance path for feeding automatically inserted paper from a paper supply to a folding mechanism portion and another conveyance path for feeding manually inserted paper to the same folding mechanism portion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional on-line paper folding apparatus, paper fed from a paper supply of a large-sized copying machine or the like is folded by an automatic paper folding apparatus connected to the paper supply. When paper is manually inserted for folding, the paper is conveyed through an insertion inlet to the folding mechanism portion using the same conveyance path as was used for the automatic mode.
In the conventional paper folding apparatus, as described above, manually inserted paper is passed through the same conveyance path as is paper fed through automatically. This use of the same path causes a problem because the conveyance path that passes between the copying machine and the folding mechanism portion of the paper folding apparatus is quite long. Therefore, it is impossible to manually insert paper when the copying machine is directly connected to the folding mechanism portion.